DVLA employee sacked for using Facebook on his mobile phone

A DVLA employee was fired for using Facebook during office hours (Picture: Reuters)

A civil servant at the DVLA was fired after being caught using Facebook on his mobile phone during office hours, it has emerged.

The employee, who has not been named, was dismissed for breaking the call centre?s ?draconian? ban on accessing social media sites while at work.

Bosses previously dismissed three members of staff for making ?inappropriate comments? about the agency, a colleague or customers on Facebook.

Seven employees at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea were also suspended earlier this year for posting ?inappropriate? comments or jokes on the site.

?If employees post inappropriate comments on social media then that?s one thing but in a scenario when they are just accessing Facebook, then a dismissal seems harsh,? said employment solicitor Michael Scutt.

He added: ?I don?t think blanket prohibitions on social media are the way forward. It?s far too authoritarian.?

Steven George-Hilley, director of technology at the think-tank Parliament Street, which obtained the figures through a Freedom of Information request, said: ?Sacking staff for using Facebook at work demonstrates a draconian approach to social media.

?Instead, employers should be encouraging staff to use social networking sites to deliver faster, more interactive services to customers.?

A spokesman for the DVLA said the agency is ?responsible to the taxpayer? and the use of social media at work could ?impact on processing people?s driving licences?.

He also stressed the dismissal was one of ?a list of conduct issues? relating to the ex-employee.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2013/05/22/dvla-employee-sacked-for-using-facebook-on-his-mobile-phone-3805482/

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